An English translation of Yoani Sánchez's blog Generación Y, from Havana, Cuba

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How to help

Every week I receive hundreds of emails, which I can hardly respond due to my limited ability to connect to the Internet. So I am taking the opportunity of this page to answer the question:

How can I help the alternative blogosphere in Cuba?

I will detail the resources or the type of collaboration that can help bloggers in creating and updating their blogs. This list is not in any priority order and should be interpreted simply as suggestions. It’s a request to citizens of the whole world and rests on the solidarity among people that has nothing to do with political stripes or ideological preferences. So here goes:

Link to the blogs and place them on the search engines or platforms where they can have greater visibility. Each person who reads us, protects us, so we need to strengthen the shield formed by readers and commentators.

Spread the contents of the blogs, especially to the interior of Cuba. This can be done by sending our posts to friends and relatives on the Island, to share with them the opinions that come from right here, but which are not disclosed in the official media.

Invite alternative bloggers to participate in events, whether virtual or real. This can be done through voice recordings, home made videos or telephone calls that help spread their opinions.

Lend a hand in the administration of blogs, especially to those bloggers who have very limited access to the Internet. For this you only need the will to collaborate, a minimal understanding of WordPress or Blogger.com and the honesty to not add or change any content that has been authorized by the author of the site.

Avoid the cult of personality of a single emblematic blogger and take the alternative blogosphere as a phenomenon in which a growing number of Cubans are participating. Don’t repeat in the virtual world the adoration of individuals that does so much damage in the real world.

Buy cards for accessing the internet in public places. Remember that many of us are obligated to play the high prices in the cybercafés or the hotels to access the net. So if you’re a tourist visiting the island, collaborate with us to acquire a few hours of connection in these places.

Every kind of information media is helpful to us, from the tiny flash drives to the most sophisticated external hard drives. A great number of the bloggers I know distribute their texts to the interior of the Island on these storage devices.

Mobile phones and economic aid to open and maintain accounts. I have been in the position where I frequently post by sending text messages to people outside Cuba who later put my texts on the net. So providing a blogger a cell phone is a way to open a parallel path to the traditional Internet access.

Laptops or any kind of accessory to build a PC. My experience tells me that an old laptop brought to the island and given to a possible blogger can be the spark for the emergence of a new opinion. Look in your office or your house for everything that’s been scrapped but that might be useful for assembling a computer, and add it to your suitcase when you are vacationing in Cuba. And please, don’t even think of sending it by mail.

Software both free and licensed. Especially those programs that are used to process images, audio, and video and that optimize internet connection time. I want to remind you that we cannot buy these programs in any store or purchase them through online transactions.

Digital cameras and video recorders, especially the little Flip camcorder that lets us discretely film situations in our everyday lives.

Digital recorders for interviews and telephone recorders to capture the voices of those who call from the provinces to dictate their texts. An example of this is the blog of the political prisoner Pablo Pacheco, whose texts are read over the telephone.

Books about citizen journalism, manuals and programs and every kind of documentation that can help us to better understand the blogger phenomenon.

The path for channeling this aid is directly to each blogger. Write a message to the email that appears in the blogs published from within Cuba—see the list of links in my sidebar—and organize, without intermediaries, this type of solidarity. The slogan of this help movement could well be: “Oxygen for the Cuban blogosphere!”

Cubans cannot contract for a home Internet account. Only senior officials and resident foreigners can connect to the network from home. For that reason, I can only send my texts from hotels where one hour of internet costs between USD $7 and $9 USD.
If you want to collaborate with Generation Y, for a major upgrade of its texts, you can donate here:

I have read pretty much of all of Ernesto Che Guevara’s book, bios, as well as Fidel’s. I have an extensive library of Cuban History books and I am now reading Yoani’s book and have discovered her blog. I am French Canadian and fluent in English ans Spanish (and French bien sur) and I am willing to lend a hand for translations : tremblay-a@hotmail.com

Here is my webpage which often includes your writings. I am also often in Havana these days regarding some citizen diplomacy activities. I would like to share how I could be of direct support in Havana through comments we exchange at this website:

We’re interested in helping Yoani too. For example we are performing in Havana and could also serve political events while there December 9-23. So perhaps we can stay in touch regarding the kind of interface we could have in your conceived project.

During our visit to Havana December 9-23 for a citizen diplomacy initiative we would be very happy to provide a free will offering of a performance for any of your activist events or gatherings. Here is a Facebook page for your consideration and should you want please contact in Havana our team member Marcia Fernandez (copied above) at 78616219 h 53570975 m

We are going to Cuba in December on vacation and will be bringing an old laptop with us to leave behind. It still works fine for Internet and blogging but it’s just not fast enough for playing some games. Hope who ever gets it will be happy with it.

Dear Yoani
I am a British writer. Following my visit to Cuba in 2013 I have mentioned you and your country in my new book “The World at a Crossroads” published last week in London. You can find details on my blog: wwwpfieldman.blogspot.com including memories of my visit and a letter I wrote to President Obama in 2013.
Un cordial saludo
Peter Fieldman
Calle Padilla 71 28006 Madrid

I have been to Cuba over 10 times and have spoken to many, many people about the Cuban situation. But please be careful of the American proposals. The Americans have a hidden agenda. They talk about the many benefits for the American people but nothing about the benefits to the Cuban people. It toke a war to get them out of Cuba. If things go wrong with the Americans this time around, are the Cuban people ready for another war to get them out again?
The Americans are not doing this to help the Cuban people. They are doing this for their own selfish reasons. All they talk about is how they will be able to gain access to the Cuban island for vacations. They will exploit the Cuban people and when they are finished they will own the island you call your home and the Cuban people will be poorer then ever.

Hello. I’m a Web Developer with quite a bit of experience in WordPress, and I would like to volunteer my time to help maintain the blog, provide free hosting or do a redesign using newer technology. Please contact me and let me know how I can help.

blogs are necessary in Cuba,as internet can be difficult,Cuba leaders have to have more faith in its own people and allow them,freedom of information,how ever that comes,beliefs should not smother education.

Thank you for speaking up. It has dramatically impacted me, but as a Canadian I am still processing what to do with it all. I was there for 2 1/2 weeks but unfortunately did not read about this until my return. Thank you for suggesting ways to help.

Interesting Blog – We hear little so about the situation in Cuba – In my country Cuba seems little more than a fascinating time warp Holiday destination – In-fact I think the dictatorship is heralded in some circles as a socialist model were health care is said to be excellent but little is reported of the daily life – One can only think that like in Poland back in the days of Lech Walesa or Vaclav Havel’s Czechoslovakia that sense and hope finally broke the silence and hopes and aspirations were finally realised and those who were part of the system realised that freedom could be realised and fear was all that held them back – Dios los bendiga

Thank you Yoany Sanchez, you are doing a brilliant work DENOUNCING THE CASTRO DICTATOR AND HIS BROTHER RAUL.
FREEDOM FOR CUBA! WE NEED DEMOCRACY AND NO MORE OF THE SAME TYRANT WHO HAS BEEN DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY AND ABUSING THE CUBANS.

I used to follow you thinking that you were a neutral voice interested in the advancement of the Cuban people. But, given the recent revelations about the USAID “Twitter” conspiracy, I can’t help but wondering how many innocent and beautiful Cuban men, women and children you might be willing to sacrifice to the US war machine to see Cuba rid of the Castros?

One? Ten? A hundred? A thousand? Ten thousand? A hundred thousand? Perhaps even a million? Of course, guilt for this grotesque slaughter (a la Iraq) would certainly fall upon the Castros (a la Saddam Hussein) for not surrendering Cuba to the benevolent and enriching, democratic embrace of the USA.

Hi, I’m writing a report about civil disobedience and how its still used today. Although many of my classmates are doing leaders such as Mendela, MLK, and Gandhi, I chose to do it on the Cuban dissidents. I would love to be able to interview you or other dissidents. If possible can you please reach me at penagosjulissa@yahoo.com

I have just returned from Cuba I wished I had found out about this before we went, I will try to think of ways to help. in the future, after reading the blogs I am startring to understand a little of life in Cuba.